Analysis of critical factors that will influence sustainability of Teleworking post Covid-19 in Kenya: a case study of tier-I Commercial Banks.

Abstract

The insurgence of Covid-19 pandemic not only brought unprecedented implications in the health and social circles of our society, but also led to great economic turbulence globally. This is because the pandemic which started as a health crisis, later metamorphosized into a social economic crisis. One remarkable development witnessed due to the pandemic’s insurgence was accelerated adoption of teleworking phenomenon. Despite teleworking having existed since 1970’s, its implementation before Covid-19 has always been a voluntary practice from a policy viewpoint. This research project pursued to identify major teleworking challenges encountered by organizations, highlight key aspects that influenced adoption of the phenomenon, and establish critical factors that will influence organizations’ decisions to permeate teleworking practice post the Covid-19 pandemic. Four mainstream models of technology adoption were reviewed to establish one which best suited this study - based on its objectives and deliverables. The study adopted TOE framework as its guiding model. To achieve its objectives, the study adopted the research ‘Onion’ design approach. It used case study research strategy, coupled with exploratory survey. Time horizons adopted by the study was cross-sectional. The study employed simple random sampling technique to select majority of subjects used. Purposive sampling technique was used to select senior management staff respondents from both ICT and human resource departments. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. A pilot study was done before the questionnaire was administered to give room for refinement of the tool based on suggestions and deficiencies identified for improvements. An approval was sought from the organization before participants could be used in the data collection. A commitment of anonymity and confidentiality was made to participants through a cover letter. To further validate the data collected through the questionnaire, interviews were administered on senior management. Top management staff were interviewed to get their views based on the data obtained through the questionnaire. Analysis of data collected during the survey was done using Statistical package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20.0. Regression tests were undertaken to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables used in this study. Coefficient of determination analysis was done to determine the overall extend of relationship between the dependent and independent variables used in the study. The study established that teleworking adoption was influenced by technological, organizational, and employees’ household environmental factors. Availability of effective collaboration tools, secure access to enterprise systems by teleworking employees, job characteristics, top leadership support, conduciveness of employees’ household environments and working hours were identified as critical aspects which had highest significant effect on teleworking adoption. Top teleworking challenges were identified as lack of sufficient preparedness on policies documentations pertaining invoking BCP processes whenever employees could not access corporate offices, inadequate teleworking tools, data leakage fears, and effective tools to measure teleworking employees’ performance. From employees’ household perspective, key challenges were lack of quality and reliable internet connectivity and power. Culmination of the study was development of a model for teleworking adoption.